Apparatus for treating storm water

Abstract

A separation tank having an inlet and an outlet and forming a low flow path and a high flow path, both conveying water from the inlet to the outlet. At normal, low flows, the water enters the inlet and passes through the low flow path having treatment chambers to remove, respectively, heavy materials and floatable materials. At high flows such as with heavy storm runoff, water exceeding a predetermined flow rate is conveyed from the low flow path into the high flow path where there are baffles to treat the water to remove both heavy materials and floatable materials. In optional embodiments, there is a filter / recharge chamber that may contain a filter and / or a groundwater conveyance system such that filtered or unfiltered water can be discharged from the low flow path through a groundwater conveyance system to groundwater, to the normal outlet, or both.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates generally to a device for treatment of storm water, and, more particularly, to an apparatus that provides treatment to the water both during normal flows and also during the high flows occasioned by a heavy downpour.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In the treatment of storm water, it is necessary to remove various undesirable elements and components, such as bacteria, oil, metals, nutrients, trash and a number of other solids. Many of the pollutants bond to the finer sediment and which is the reason many regulatory agencies now focus on total suspended solids (TSS) as a criteria for design / approval of stormwater quality measures.[0003]To that end, the Clean Water Act requires some stormwater quality treatment for all new developments over 0.5 acres in size. Many types of equipment and processes have been suggested for dealing with this problem.[0004]One of the difficulties in the removal of such materials from stormwater is the need...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]The second treatment chamber, likewise, has a partition that separates the second treatment chamber from the outlet chamber, and there is a means to separate out floatable liquids, such as oil, from the stream of water as it passes from the second treatment chamber to the outlet chamber. Thus, there are one or more standpipes that extend from openings in that partition downward into the second treatment chamber so that the lowered extensions or inlets to the standpipes are located beneath the level of the water in the second treatment chamber. As such, the water that passes from the second treatment chamber to the outlet chamber is drawn from below the surface of the water in the second treatment chamber which prevents the floating liquids, such as oil, from passing out of the second treatment chamber so that the second treatment chamber effectively removes the floatable liquids, such as oil, from the stream of water passing through the separation tank.

[0019]In an alternative embodiment, and which is optional, there can also be a filter / recharge chamber provided that receives the water from the second treatment chamber and which has, therefore, been treated by both the first and second treatment chambers. In the filter / recharge chamber, the water is filtered as it passes through a filter and then is discharged out of the water treatment tank, after the filtration, to the normal ground water to aid in maintaining a desired level of groundwater and to reduce storm water runoff volume to aid in maintaining the pre-development hydrology.

Problems solved by technology

One of the difficulties in the removal of such materials from stormwater is the need to take into account different flows of that water.

In such treatment facilities, however, the high flow that bypasses the low flow treatment chambers is not normally treated to remove both floating and non-floating materials.

Accordingly, while the Monteith system does consider conveyance for the high flow stream of water from a heavy runoff, that bypass water simply passes though the apparatus without any treatment and thus undesirable floatable and non-floatable materials in the high flow stream can be conveyed downstream without being removed.

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